Atheros (News - Alert) Communications, a technology provider for wireless and wired communications, announced its latest Wi-Fi chip, the AR9374.

The new chip offers wireless connectivity to fixed consumer electronics. With the new Wi-Fi chip, users can enjoy content everywhere in the home with connected TVs, set-top boxes, Blu-ray players, digital media adapters, home network-attached-storage, speakers, game consoles and wireless audio products.

“The AR9374 solution showcases Atheros' superior integration and enables the proliferation of high performance wireless connectivity to mainstream consumer electronics products,” said Gary Szilagyi, vice president and general manager of consumer electronics at Atheros Communications, in a statement.

“Consumers are not only creating huge amounts of digital content, but are taking better advantage of media services that are delivered over the Internet that are increasing the demands on connectivity. We wanted to create a simple and reliable way to access, share and enjoy this digital content in multiple devices anywhere in the home,” Szilagyi added.

The number of Wi-Fi devices leveraging the 2.4 GHz band is growing. Consumers want to leverage the 5 GHz band for media-rich applications that require interference-free bandwidth and less latency. The AR9374 chip offers 40MHz transmissions to support high data rate applications without the limitations of range and costs associated with previous Wi-Fi standards.

With the launch of the latest chip, Atheros Communications demonstrates its strong commitment to developing new and innovative Wi-Fi technologies.

Atheros has extensive technology portfolio and established expertise in 5 GHz radio development. The technology vendor is now delivering an integrated, single-chip solution capable of connecting multiple consumer electronics devices everywhere in the home.

“Advances in wireless technology, such as Atheros' AR9374 Chip, will help manufacturers and consumers take advantage of the 5 GHz band which is expected to reduce interference and latency, improving quality of experience,” said Michael Inouye, senior analyst at ABI Research (News - Alert).

In a related announcement, Atheros Communications introduced SmartLink, a new technology that enhances the performance and coverage of powerline connectivity.

Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO West 2011, taking place Sept. 13-15, 2011, in Austin, Texas. ITEXPO (News - Alert) offers an educational program to help corporate decision makers select the right IP-based voice, video, fax and unified communications solutions to improve their operations. It's also where service providers learn how to profitably roll out the services their subscribers are clamoring for – and where resellers can learn about new growth opportunities. To register, click here.